Hot take: DIY tongue splitting is NOT as dangerous as everyone says if you do it right

I did my own tongue split in my bathroom in Portland about 2 years ago. The bleeding was BAD for the first 10 minutes, I thought I was gonna pass out. But I had watched like 20 tutorials and bought a proper surgical kit online. I numbed it with ice and lidocaine gel, used curved hemostats, and did it in 3 passes with a sterile scalpel. One of the sutures popped loose on day 4 and I had to redo it in my kitchen mirror at 2am. It healed fine. The swelling was gone after a week. Everyone on this sub told me I was gonna get an infection or sever a nerve, but my dentist actually complimented the symmetry at a checkup last month. Has anyone else here actually DONE a tongue split themselves or are yall just repeating what you read?

3 comments

3 Comments

wendy82010d ago

Did you use dissolving sutures or non-dissolving? Mine was similar - I did it with fishing line and a sterilized needle, and the swelling was INSANE for the first 3 days, could barely drink water. People love to freak out about the bleeding but honestly once you clamp it tight with the hemostats for a solid minute beforehand it cuts way down. The real tricky part is keeping the split clean while it heals, I soaked my mouth with saline like 8 times a day and never got an infection. Your dentist complimenting it is actually impressive, most professionals just lecture you about it.

moore.beth10d agoTop Commenter

Used non-dissolving fishing line too (like you said, 20lb test with a curved needle) and the swelling was no joke, I looked like a hamster for a week. Trick I found for the saline rinses was to use a syringe (without the needle, obviously) to squirt it right into the gap without disturbing the knot. Also kept a little mirror handy to check for food getting stuck back there, cause that's what really causes the smell and mess.

carter.joseph10d ago

Did you ever run into issues with the knot getting snagged on stuff while eating? I found that tucking the tail of the knot into the gap with a toothpick helped a lot after the first couple days. The saline syringe trick is solid, I used a little travel bottle with a squirt tip instead of a syringe and it worked okay too. Also yeah that food getting stuck is the worst part, I used a waterpik on the lowest setting after day 4 to flush it out without messing with the stitch.